Past, Present and Future
by The Hero of Time 1998
Summary: Italy wasn't expecting much when he went to visit Germany that day. He was aiming for a hug, a kiss, a pasta dinner, maybe even a siesta. But finding his old deck brush in Germany's gardening shed? No, he wasn't expecting that at all. Germany HRE Theory! Also, yaoi! Don't like, don't read! It's as simple as that! T for a tiny bit of swearing and because I'm paranoid.


**Yet another pointless disclaimer that you guys will probably skip:**

**I do not claim ownership over Hetalia, nor did I take part in aiding its existence. Same thing applies for Romano's Delicious Tomato Song. Hetalia and its characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya, ****_NOT. ME_****. Clear? I only found out about Hetalia last year, after all. AND I ****_LOVE IT._**

**(=u=)~**

The Italian man merrily strolled down the sidewalk to his friend's house, singing a song to himself while carrying a large ceramic bowl of freshly-made pasta covered by a tea-towel under his arm.

"_Buono tomato, buono tomato, buono buono uuh!…_" he sang the song he overheard Romano singing about three days ago. He wasn't really as big a fan of tomatoes as his brother (pasta was much better!) but thought the song quite catchy.

Italy knocked on Germany's door, patiently waiting outside. Italy had the strong urge to just walk right in unannounced but had, surprisingly, made a smart choice and decided not to. The last time he did, he very nearly had his head blown off by the German man himself, whom had mistaken him for a burglar. It was World War II, after all. That Hitler person's paranoia might be rubbing off on Germany.

Humming the rest of his song, he stood there staring at the wooden door, waiting for his Aryan friend to welcome him in. But when the door finally opened, it wasn't Germany that had answered his door.

"Hallo, Italy!" greeted Prussia, ushering his favourite Italian inside.

"Ve, ciao Prussia! It's good to see you!" Italy replied, hugging the albino tightly as if he hadn't seen him in weeks. "I brought some pasta!" Prussia rolled his eyes, laughing slightly.

_Why is the awesome me not surprised?,_ he thought to himself.

"Ve~" Italy scanned the immediate area, his signature smile slipping slightly. "Where's Doitsu?"

"Vest? He's outside in zhe garden-"

Before he had even finished talking, Italy interrupted him with a loud: "Grazie!", then skipped off in a seemingly random direction.

Prussia stared in the direction the Italian had left and shook his head, chuckling to himself. Why was Italy so damn cute? Fucking adorable would be more accurate, even if he did put the 'bother' in 'bothersome'. Prussia thought it cute the way Italy acted around his brother, the way he acted when he so much hears his _name_. It's almost as if he knew that he-

Prussia quickly stopped that train of thought, resisting the urge to smack himself in the awesome forehead. He'd made an oath never to speak of that, not even to _think_ about it ever again. It was for his bruder's own safety. The albino sighed and walked over to a window overlooking the garden, watching the auburn male sadly.

_What would West think of me if he found out?,_ he thinks to himself.

_…__what would happen if _Italy_ found out…?_

**-*Prussia chibi pops up from behind Hetalia logo* "HETALIA"-**

"_Doitsuuuuuuuuuuu~_"

Germany wiped the sweat from his brow and sighed slightly, not at all needing to look up to see who it was.

"Ja, vhat is it this time, Italy?" he grumbled under his breath, pretending that he didn't enjoy the Italian's company in the slightest.

"Ve, I just wanted to visit my best friend!" laughed Italy. "I brought some pasta over in case you were hungry! I even put some potatoes and wurst in it just for you but please don't tell fratello because he'll get mad and yell at me and I'll cry and he'll yell at me even more for being a big cry baby and big brother Spain will have to help save me and maybe even big brother France but mio fratello is scared of big brother France and will probably run-ah! Oh no! Please don't tell Romano I told you he's scared of France because he'll get mad at me and yell at me for being a-"

"Ja, Ja, I get your point, Italy, now please stop talking," Germany interrupted firmly, suddenly wondering why he enjoyed Italy's company in the first place. "Und besides, I already know he's scared of France," he said, thinking back to a few of his past encounters with Romano. First the Italian would insult him (seriously, what did he have against potatoes?) and then stuff his head in Germany's jacket if France happened to pass by. That guy really needed to work on his people skills.

"…hey Germany, are you gardening? Ve, that's so cool; I didn't know you could garden almost as much as I didn't know you could bake! Hey, can I help? Please? I wanna help because you keep telling me I'm useless at training and I don't wanna be useless and-" Germany's eye twitched as the Italian prattled on and on about everything and nothing. Why the hell he even made the Pact of Steel with this guy was beyond him. All because of a damn _letter_ that Kiku managed to find while cleaning. Why the hell he was _in lov-_ wait, no. Go away, random train of thought.

"Ja, okay fine, Italy. If you really vant to help, go rake those leaves over zhere. Go get somezhing in zhe shed to help you," said Germany as calmly as he could.

"Right, Captain!" came Italy's jovial reply, saluting the German (with the wrong hand) while holding the bowl of his beloved pasta with the other.

Germany smiled softly at the auburn male, wondering how the heck he was so annoying yet at the same time so freaking adorab-

_Nein_ _SHUT UP_.

Italy merrily skipped to the nearby gardening shed and opened the door. The door swung open and a cloud of dust billowed out. Coughing harshly and fanning the dust away, Italy peered inside the dark shed for anything that might serve as a rake, but couldn't see anything, for there was no light inside.

Hardly being able to breathe in there, Italy reached out and grabbed the nearest object, what felt like a long wooden handle, and assumed it was a rake, or at least a broom. Quickly exiting the shed and slamming the door shut, he took a big lungful of fresh air. The shed had obviously been left neglected for quite some time, which was rather strange considering the fact that Germany was a bit of a clean freak. Making sure he had caught his breath, Italy looked down to examine the object he had salvaged from the shed.

His eyes widened, his hands went numb and a burning feeling in his throat told him he'd stopped breathing.

***Italy chibi pops up from behind Hetalia logo* "HETALIA"***

Germany's head snapped up when he heard the sound of something smashing on the ground. The sound came from where Italy was standing next to the gardening shed, and Germany soon found out the source to be the smashed ceramic bowl which once held the pasta splayed out on the ground at Italy's feet. Italy was as pale as a sheet, his mouth opening and closing mechanically while staring at a wooden deck brush in his hand.

"…Italy?" said Germany, momentarily wondering if there was a bug on the brush. "Italy? Are you alright?"

"…ou ge…" the Italian mumbled in reply.

"Vhat vas zhat? I didn't hear you."

Slowly, Italy turned his head to glare at Germany, the latter shocked to see the former's face streaked with angry tears. Sure, the German had seen Italy cry plenty of times, but all those times involved spilt pasta, the lack of pasta, burnt pasta, England's cooking, a spider or Romano's bullying. Though only one of the above was present, Germany somehow doubted it was the reason why Italy was suddenly crying.

"I said," Italy hissed through his teeth almost accusingly. "_Where_ did you _get this_?"

No, it definitely wasn't the spilt pasta.

Germany blinked in surprise at Italy's very out of character behaviour.

"I don't know; it's just a broom sitting at zhe back of zhe shed, Italy," Germany answered honestly. "I've alvays assumed zhat mein bruder left it zhere. Vhat's wrong vith you?"

Germany probably shouldn't have said the last four words, because it seemed to anger the Italian even more.

"Don't lie to me!" snapped Italy. Instinctively, Germany leaned back slightly. Though Germany wouldn't dare admit it, Italy was actually scaring him a little. "_Where did you get this deck brush?!_"

"_I don't know!_" Germany yelled back.

An awkward silence ensued. Although it lasted only a few seconds, it seemed like hours to the two nations.

As if snapping out of a trance, Italy blinked a few times, suddenly noticing exactly what was happening. His weight was forward, his hands clenched into fists, one of them holding the deck brush so tightly his knuckles were white.

He suddenly felt a wave of mortification wash over him. For all he knew it could just be a completely different deck brush that only looked a lot like the one he once used as a child. He hadn't seen the thing in over a thousand years, after all.

…But he couldn't help but know, just _know_, that it was the one he had given to his first love. It had a thin layer of dust on it from its many years of disuse, but it was so familiar… so very familiar…

Running his hand across the handle, he couldn't help but smile as he recognized the smooth, wooden texture. It even had that splinter of wood that stuck out near the top where he'd once pricked his finger when sweeping near Austria's piano just to hear his music. Italy then caught sight of something on that very splinter he was looking at and leaned closer. It was a black thread.

_'__I've always loved you since the 900's…'_

Italy looked up at Germany, who was staring at him with such shocked confusion Italy could've sprouted a second head.

_Blonde hair, blue eyes, handsome face,_ Italy thought to himself, blushing a bit at that last one while bubbling feelings of anger and self-annoyance welled up inside him, threatening to lose control.

"I…Italy?" said Germany, taking a step towards the Italian. Germany reeled back slightly when Italy glared at him. He freaking _glared_ at him! With his eyes open and everything! Exactly how out-of-character was Italy right now? Germany was somewhat glad Japan wasn't here, or else he'd start gagging on the tension in the atmosphere. "Vhat zhe hell is going o-"

Italy couldn't take it anymore.

With an almighty roar, Italy hurled the deck brush at the German as hard as he could. Germany, not expecting this at all, was completely unprepared for the sudden assault and was hit square in the face by the head of the broom. Crying out in surprise, shock and pain, Germany stumbled back onto his behind, clutching his nose.

"_Scheiße!_" roared Germany. "_Was zum Teufel?!_"

"_Do you have any idea how LONG I waited?!_" Italy screamed at him, angry tears streaming down his face once again. "_Do you?!_"

Germany, very annoyed and still confused out of his mind, couldn't think of what to do but yell back. "Vhat are you talking about? Verdammit, Italia, _vhat zhe hell is going on!_ Vun minute I vas gardening, you came over, found zhat damn broom und now you're yelling at me! So I'll ask you vunce more: _Vhat. Is. Happening?!_"

Breathing deeply, Italy closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten.

"…Vest?"

Italy's eyes snapped open and he looked over his shoulder to see a very confused and worried Prussia, staring at his younger brother. He looked to Italy.

"Italy? Vhat happened?"

Germany gave an annoyed grunt, removing his hand from his face and looking at it. His nose and hand were both coated in blood. "Zhat's vhat _I've_ been trying to find out, bruder."

"Vhat? You're confusing zhe awesome me's awesome brain."

Germany facepalmed with his bloody hand, then yelped because he hit his nose. "Ow scheiße! …Verdammit Italy! I zhink you broke it." Prussia's eyes bulged and his mouth stretched into a grin. His smile widened when he saw that Germany had a bloody handprint on his face, making him look rather silly.

"Vow! Vhat?" he laughed. "Italy _broke your nose_, Vest?! Oh, man, zhat's priceless!" Prussia threw an arm around Italy's neck. "Kesesesese! My awesomeness rubbed off on ya, eh Italy?"

"Mm," Italy grunted, not absorbing a word the Prussian was saying.

"So uh…" Prussia carried on, smile looking a little strained. "…can you tell me vhy?" Italy said nothing, but shrugged the albino's arm off. Prussia's brow furrowed with confusion at the Italian's sudden antisocialism. "I-Italy…?" He looked to his younger brother. "Vest?" Germany just shrugged.

Then Prussia caught sight of the deck brush a few yards away.

"…oh nein."

**…****does Germany even have a gardening shed? I just added that in to make it easier for me to write. SO PLOT TWIST! HRE IS ALIVE! AND STUFF! HE JUST DOESN'T ****_KNOW _****HE'S HRE! Yes, I know. I'm cruel.**

**_YES_****I made Italy go very OOC. I apple-o-gize about that, no, not really. It's just, ****_almost every_**** HRE=Germany fanfic I read, Italy is all "Oh, you're my missing lover who's been gone for over a thousand years without me knowing if you were still alive or not? That's cool."**

**Do you have any idea how ****_inaccurate_**** that is? In my opinion, he'd have a drastically different reaction. He probably wouldn't throw a broom at his face, but that's just me. Go think what you like. Anyways, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read something completely uncorrelated to real life (a.k.a this fanfic). Here, have a cookie because you deserve it (::) Also, not many people know this, but I feed off of souls of the deceased and I like them very much. They taste like vodka. But if you don't have any, then a review will do just fine ^J^ Or some vodka.**

**Also, to my already readers (WTF myself?) I'm sorry to say this, but I'm discontinuing all my other stories, because I'm – WAIT NO! STAHP! STAHP CRYING! I'M JOKING! I'M STILL CARRYING ON WITH THEM, IT'S JUST THAT I HAVE A MAJOR CASE OF WRITER'S BLOCK AND THAT'S WHY I HAVEN'T UPDATED! … so yeah.**

**Phht, next chapter? Who said I'd write a next chapter?**


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